Topic: Today is Ash Wednesday

The beginning of Lent. 

Phid, could you explain what is required of those who participate in Lent?  I have never participated myself and am curious.  Thanks.

Oh I thought it was celebrated in non-Catholic denominations (maybe just certain ones).  It marks the beginning of the spiritual journey to Christ's Passion and Death followed by the Resurrection which we celebrate on Easter.  Lent continues for 40 days (not including Sundays) which was also the number of days that Jesus remained fasting and praying in the desert.  Lent is usually a time of some self-denial, fasting, and more prayer.  It's a time of penitence.  The ashes on Ash Wednesday call to mind our own mortality.

Oh I thought it was celebrated in non-Catholic denominations (maybe just certain ones).  It marks the beginning of the spiritual journey to Christ's Passion and Death followed by the Resurrection which we celebrate on Easter.  Lent continues for 40 days (not including Sundays) which was also the number of days that Jesus remained fasting and praying in the desert.  Lent is usually a time of some self-denial, fasting, and more prayer.  It's a time of penitence.  The ashes on Ash Wednesday call to mind our own mortality.

The Mardi Gras was originally a time to have a huge, over-indulging party before giving up things for Lent, wasn't it?  Fat Tuesday being right before Ash Wednesday.  

I believe Lent is recognized in most, or all, of the Protestant denominations that favor the concept of "Apostolic Succession".  Methodist, Lutherans, Episcopals, and such.  I don’t think it is recognized by denominations that do not support the concept, such as Baptist, etc. There is a thread on Apostolic Succession here…

http://www.christian-legacies.com/smf/index.php?topic=8.0

I'm Southern Baptist and we don't emphasize this fast period.  Some do participate in it, but most don't.  I never have....I have never actually fasted before at all.  Perhaps it is something I should do.

Indeed, Mardi Gras is a time of "feasting" before "fasting", though I think that part of the racuous New Orleans-style Mardi Gras events have wandered into pagan excess and bacchanian debauchery.  This is not surprising, though, as the "party" aspect is a big attraction to the secular crowd.  The festival time is called "carnival" or "carnivale" in other countries, and in Venice people don beautiful decorative masks and costumes, such as

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Venezia_carnevale_7.jpg

and

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Venezia_carnevale_6.jpg

Cool stuff.  When I lived in South America, the carnival festival time was hot and humid and the tradition was to douse people on the street, including strangers, with buckets of water, water balloons, and so forth.  This continued until Mardi Gras, and the "attacks" would become more common as Fat Tuesday approached.  Yes indeed, I exercised my right to launch water balloons at many an unfortunate victim. 

But back to Lent - Donnie, fasting or giving up something is not an easy task to do, but this is the whole point.  You might consider giving up something for Lent, even something small that you like - perhaps chocolate, non-diet soda, fried foods, or something else.  We can clearly see in the Gospels that fasting (both rightly-done and wrongly-done) was practiced in Jesus' time.

Thinking back to my many days as an active Southern Baptist, I can't remember any emphasis on fasting.  Mennonites, seldom if ever.  But when we worked with Catholics, yes.  Why do those 'non-apostolic-succession denominations' emphasize something that's quite scriptural, and the evangelicals don't?

Thinking back to my many days as an active Southern Baptist, I can't remember any emphasis on fasting.  Mennonites, seldom if ever.  But when we worked with Catholics, yes.  Why do those 'non-apostolic-succession denominations' emphasize something that's quite scriptural, and the evangelicals don't?

Excellent question.  I was actually going there, but hoped someone else would ask...just to draw others into the conversation, understand!

Please don't get me started on pastors who obviously have never gone on a fast......

Well my thing with fasting is, if it is truly to worship the Lord, it should be done in private with no one else's knowledge so that a person cannot boast of his "piety."  Your face should be kept clean and your garments well kept so as to not bring attention to yourself etc....

Today is Ash Wednesday once again.

Well my thing with fasting is, if it is truly to worship the Lord, it should be done in private with no one else's knowledge so that a person cannot boast of his "piety."  Your face should be kept clean and your garments well kept so as to not bring attention to yourself etc....

That was actually what the Ash Wednesday reading in my church was about.  I do not remember which Gospel it came from though.  Perhaps I can find out.  And I did find it, here is the Gospel reading we had on Ash Wednesday, this is the English version since I go to my local german church and I dont know how many of you speak German.

Matthew 6: 1 - 6, 16 - 18
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
1  "Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them; for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. 
2  "Thus, when you give alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 
3  But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 
4  so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 
5  "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 
6  But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 
16  "And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 
17  But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 
18  that your fasting may not be seen by men but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 

  That is one of the great things about the Catholic Church, it truly is universal.  Mass is the same everywhere, the only difference is what language is used.  As a matter of fact, we will attend Mass Easter Sunday in Pisa, Italy because we will be on vacation during the Easter School break with my son.

Today is Ash Wednesday.

Notice last year's Ash Wednesday was on February 17.  This year it is about three weeks later.  We're going to have a late Easter this year.

My how the time flies.  I remember this thread like it was just a couple of months ago.

I know what you mean.  I have realized that as I get older, time seems to move by more quickly.  It seem like the 2000s went by in quite a hurry.

We are rushing headlong toward our destiny.

I'm a high school English teacher and some of our students use this holiday to miss part of the school day.  Some of them even take cigarette ashes and mark their foreheads to try and fool us.  We now make the kids have their church leader sign a permission slip to make sure they truly attend Ash Wednesday. 

Today again is Ash Wednesday.  Amazing how this thread has survived for five years now.  I'm guessing it will survive years into the future, barring some database explosion(!). 

Anyway, last year's Ash Wednesday was March 9, or about three weeks later than this year's.  I didn't realize it was so late last year.  Normally it seems to occur in February, and one year I remember it happening on Valentine's Day.  I think the earliest I remember it was around February 8, which makes it seem like it is almost right after the Christmas season.  That year, Easter was around March 26, which was awfully early that year (it snowed Easter weekend).

I wasn't even aware.  As a Protestant it just isn't a big deal to me.  I've never participated in Lent.

Well, I don't think I was aware of this, but at least some Protestants do recognize Ash Wednesday.  This following story is about the doings of a Protestant church:

Ohio church offers drive-thru for Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday.  Easter is at the end of March this year, which is on the early side of things.

This post seems to come around quickly.  It seems like you just posted about it.  Wow the time does fly.

It does, doesn't it?  I noticed several articles recently about "ashes on the go" where ashes were distributed at places like train or bus stations (similar to the story I linked to last year).  I believe this practice was headed by one or several Protestant churches.  I'm not sure if this represents a growing trend within Protestantism to recognize Ash Wednesday, a "fad", or merely the media's desire to highlight this kind of story.